Menu labeling is healthy reform

Published 3:01 pm, Thursday, September 9, 2010

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration released guidelines to help fast food and restaurant chains move toward compliance with the new menu labeling requirements that I worked to include in the Affordable Care Act. When this rule is in full effect, in every restaurant in the country with 20 or more locations, the basic calorie content of every dish will be displayed on menus, menu boards and drive-thru boards, so that we can all make better, more informed choices about what's for dinner.

Obviously, this is only one provision of a comprehensive set of reforms included in the act, but I believe strongly that it is an important one, and one that will directly impact American families for the better. As several studies have shown, menu labeling changes behavior, and helps to change the environment in which Americans make eating choices.

In our country today, we all eat more and more of our meals outside the home -- American families now eat out twice as much as they did in 1970. An estimated one-third of calories are now consumed, and almost half of total food dollars are now spent, at restaurants and eating establishments.

Meanwhile, as we all know, our nation faces an increasingly troubling obesity epidemic that threatens the health, well-being and even economic future of our children. According to a recent study at Emory University, if current trends continue, by the year 2018 our nation is expected to spend $344 billion on health care costs attributable to obesity. Connecticut is expected to spend $2.9 billion by then on obesity-related health costs, over four times what we spend now. And however high these economic costs, the physical costs are even higher.

Over the course of seven years of hard work, there were times where we were uncertain that a deal could be reached on this language. But to everyone's credit, we stayed at the table and forged a compromise on this critical public health issue.

Why? Because, it is a good, common-sense provision that will clearly benefit families. Much like the nutrition information available on packaged food at grocery stores, all fast-food chains or restaurants with 20 or more locations will have to display the basic calorie content of their food choices on their menus, menu boards and drive-thru boards. This is transparency, pure and simple.

In fact, menu labeling is a reform that has already worked in several areas around the country, including New York City and Seattle. With the FDA's announcement, it is one that will now work for American families all across the country. I am very proud of the hard work we put in to include menu labeling in the Affordable Care Act, and I look forward to seeing it implemented across the country.